DENVER - The National Cattlemen’s Foundation is the latest livestock organization to partner with USDA to promote premises registration for the nation’s farms and ranches.

The foundation joins a growing list of respected livestock organizations to partner with USDA to promote premises registration. These include American Angus Association, the National Pork Board, the National FFA Organization, and the IDAIRY coalition consisting of Holstein Association USA, the National Milk Producers Federation, the National Association of Animal Breeders, the National Dairy Herd Information Association, the National Dairy Calf and Heifer Association, and the American Jersey Cattle Association.

At the National Cattlemen’s Foundation, we are committed to efforts that will quickly contain an animal disease, and provide aid to producers in crisis situations, and during natural disasters and other times of need.

"We want to make sure cattlemen have the information they need to make a decision about registering their premises," said Bob Josserand, a cattleman from Texas, who serves as chairman of the foundation’s board of trustees.

Premises registration is a record of basic information – such as address and phone number – that allows animal health officials to notify a livestock owner quickly when a disease event or natural disaster puts livestock at risk.

"Rapid notification is critical, because the faster animal health officials can reach you as an affected livestock producer, the more quickly you will have the information and assistance you need to protect your animals and your investment," said Carl Crabtree, a Grangeville, Idaho, cattle producer who chairs the beef industry’s Joint Producer Education Committee.

As the philanthropic arm of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the National Cattlemen’s Foundation will administer resources to deliver premises registration information to cattle producers. Information will be conveyed through state cattlemen’s associations, local producer meetings, National Cattleman and state cattlemen’s magazines, and agricultural broadcasts such as NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen, a weekly television program on RFD-TV.

"These resources will allow the National Cattlemen’s Foundation and NCBA to continue to do what we always do - provide real solutions to producers so they can stay profitable and viable into the future," Josserand said.

Registering a premises does not obligate a livestock producer to participate in any additional programs or any further levels of animal identification.NCBA members have an established policy that calls for animal identification to be voluntary, and encourages the use of existing state efforts. Animal movement data must be kept confidential and in private hands - not the government’s. Producers choosing to participate should have the opportunity to do so in a manner that derives additional value from their livestock.